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BRIEF: Last year, President Bush nominated Texas Supreme Court Justice Pricilla Owen to serve on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Her nomination was defeated in September. On January 8, President Bush re-nominated Owen to the same post but not before she and her seven Repubican colleagues on the Texas Supreme Court unanimously decided against Medicaid funding for abortions on December 31. In 1967, six years before the supreme court decided Roe vs. Wade, Texas implemented the "Texas Medical Assistance Program" or TMAP, whereby Texas would limit the medical services it funds to those only subsidized by the federal government. Federal matching funds for abortions are limited, unless the pregnancy is the result of rape, incest or carrying the child endangers the woman's life. In a case known as Bell vs. Low Income Women, the Texas Supreme Court agreed that low income women seeking abortions were treated differently, but the state had a legitimate interest in favoring child birth ... and could pursue policies that discourage abortion. The Texas Supreme Court recognized that "some of these conditions can, if the pregnancy is not terminated, cause a woman to suffer strokes, severe bleeding disorders, eye disease, heart failure, renal function deterioration, seizures and accelerated growth of breast cancer tumors." Observers have commented through this decision that the court has ruled that a woman's health has taken a back seat to child bearing. Unlike Texas Supreme Court judges who are elected, federal judges receive life-time appointments [from the President that are approved by Congress]. E-mail Robert Cardenas at robertc@amerion.com . This story was broadcast on January 17, 2003.